BrANCH News and Announcements 2/2/2017

Please find below the latest news and announcements received by BrANCH.

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Post-doctoral fellowships at Newcastle University

History at Newcastle welcomes expressions of interest from outstanding early career researchers wishing to take part in the Fellowship competition recently advertised by the Research Excellence Academy at Newcastle University. Post-doctoral fellowships will be funded for up to three years at RCUK UK/EU rates. It is expected that History will be allowed to put forward one candidate for consideration by a University-wide panel.

Please email the application and a brief cv to Leigh Denley leigh.denley@newcastle.ac.uk by Wednesday February 8th. For any material that is in press/accepted please supply relevant documentation.

Early career researchers will be expected to have received their doctorate on or after 1 August 2011 and not to have held a substantive Lecturer level post.

A major international conference to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Pocahontas’ death. Co-hosted by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library and the Institute of Historical Research.

Additional support has been provided by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, The University of Warwick, and the British Association for American Studies

In 2017 the Anglo-American world will mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Pocahontas. Numerous commemorative activities, from walking tours to talking monuments, have been planned on both sides of the Atlantic. Intense, closely focused interest in her life is, of course, not a new phenomenon. Her story has been romanticised at many points over the centuries, and multiple representations of Pocahontas (as Noble Savage, Mother of a Nation, propaganda icon, seductive temptress) have materialised in historical accounts, in literature, and in visual, material, and performance art. From a range of historical and literary perspectives, and for a variety of social and political purposes, Pocahontas has left an enduring legacy among Indigenous, local, national, and international communities.

Using Pocahontas’ visit to England and her death and burial in Kent as an entry point, this conference will explore the continued interest in Pocahontas as a subject of study. It will explore the academic challenges posed by the multiple versions and the contemporary appropriations of this Pamunkey woman variously known as Amonute, Matoaka, Pocahontas, and Rebecca. In exploring the life and afterlives of Pocahontas, it aims to open new interdisciplinary discussions.

Additionally, the Satuday 18th will host a range of cultural activities, including:

A special session with David Givens of Historic Jamestown and Ashley Atkins of the Pamunkey Indian Museum.

A panel debate on the iconography of Pocahontas and its relationship to contemporary indigenous women’s political and social issues. Confirmed speakers: Joanne Prince of Rainmaker Gallery, Bristol; Shelley Niro, Mohawk film-maker and artist; Dr Max Carocci, Chelsea College of Art; Dr David Stirrup, Reader in Indigenous and Settler Literatures of the Americas at the University of Kent; and Dr Buck Woodard, Colonial Williamsburg, American Indian Initiative.